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Powell in Russia
Aired January 26, 2004 - 13:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Russia, and he is defending the premise Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, a weapons program certainly, that would have posed a danger to the world.
And Mr. Powell is also raising concerns about Russia's policy. CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joins us live with more on that.
What's being said there, Jill?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Carol, ever since Russia came out and helped the United States in the war against terror, the U.S. has really avoided any type of direct criticism of President Putin.
But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell here in Moscow for two days of talks, both with President Putin and with other Russian officials, is making it very clear the United States is worried about the fate of democracy in Russia.
In fact, he wrote an article, front page, op-ed article in one of the leading newspapers here in Russia, "Izveysted (ph)," and in it, he said that recent developments not only in the internal policy of Russia, but in the external policy have, as he put it, given us pause. And he pointed out specifically that political power, he said, is not subject to the rule of law, and it is very difficult for independent media and independent political parties to survive.
Now he was not very specific, did not give examples, but you'd have to say, reading between the lines, he with a probably referring to the paramilitary elections here in Russia, which took place December 7th. And in those elections, the international observers were quite critical, and they said that the government had pulled out all the stops trying to support the party that supports President Putin and the Kremlin. So again, you know, here, you have to remember there's an election coming up as well. March 14th is the presidential election here in Russia.
And I just looked at some poll numbers before I came up here. 78 percent in the latest poll saying that they would vote for President Putin. And the other people who were running their back, and I think eight others who were running, have numbers like 1 percent, 2 percent or 3 percent. So you can bet that George Bush would love to have some numbers like that -- Carol.
LIN: You bet. All right, thank you very much, Jill Dougherty, reporting live in Moscow.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 26, 2004 - 13:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Russia, and he is defending the premise Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, a weapons program certainly, that would have posed a danger to the world.
And Mr. Powell is also raising concerns about Russia's policy. CNN's Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joins us live with more on that.
What's being said there, Jill?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Carol, ever since Russia came out and helped the United States in the war against terror, the U.S. has really avoided any type of direct criticism of President Putin.
But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell here in Moscow for two days of talks, both with President Putin and with other Russian officials, is making it very clear the United States is worried about the fate of democracy in Russia.
In fact, he wrote an article, front page, op-ed article in one of the leading newspapers here in Russia, "Izveysted (ph)," and in it, he said that recent developments not only in the internal policy of Russia, but in the external policy have, as he put it, given us pause. And he pointed out specifically that political power, he said, is not subject to the rule of law, and it is very difficult for independent media and independent political parties to survive.
Now he was not very specific, did not give examples, but you'd have to say, reading between the lines, he with a probably referring to the paramilitary elections here in Russia, which took place December 7th. And in those elections, the international observers were quite critical, and they said that the government had pulled out all the stops trying to support the party that supports President Putin and the Kremlin. So again, you know, here, you have to remember there's an election coming up as well. March 14th is the presidential election here in Russia.
And I just looked at some poll numbers before I came up here. 78 percent in the latest poll saying that they would vote for President Putin. And the other people who were running their back, and I think eight others who were running, have numbers like 1 percent, 2 percent or 3 percent. So you can bet that George Bush would love to have some numbers like that -- Carol.
LIN: You bet. All right, thank you very much, Jill Dougherty, reporting live in Moscow.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
